This invention relates generally to systems and processes for treatment of solutions. More particularly, the invention relates to systems and processes for treatment of aqueous saline solutions using miscible organic solvents.
In industrial processes, large amounts of solutions, such as saline solutions are produced. Generally, such aqueous saline solutions are not suitable for direct consumption in domestic or industrial applications. In view of the limited eligible water sources and protection of environment, some treatment processes, such as de-ionization and desaltification for treatment of wastewater, seawater or brackish water, become options to produce eligible water.
In current applications, various treatment processes, such as distillation, vaporization and chemical precipitation are employed for treatment of solutions. However, such processes can suffer from low efficiency and/or high-energy consumption, for example, for directly treating high saline solutions, such as fracturing water, which may prohibit them from being widely implemented.
Therefore, there is a need for new and improved systems and methods for treatment of aqueous saline solutions, such as fracturing water.